Fear, fright and flight!

The scenes at the feeding station in our garden make me aware of the normal life experiences for avians and squirrels. 

This squirrel above was relishing the feed of a banana when a Tree pie and a Mynah were in a confrontational mood in the feeding station as seen in the second photo. 

That trigger of fear was enough for the squirrel to abandon its feed and retreat to look for a hiding place. It found a hiding place at the hollow of the bifurcation of the tree and when the bird calls of the two birds became louder, it moved up the tree and kept looking downward to watch the bird behaviour. 

Those few minutes when the squirrel was stationary, I noticed its body behaviour, which to me appeared to be an expression of stress and disturbance. 

The stress of being was real!

Our daily rhythm of life is often disturbed by events which happen suddenly. About fifteen minutes prior to the departure of flight the boarding gate was changed. As it was a silent air port there was no announcement in the public address system. When I saw some passengers getting up and looking at the display board and moving away, I too got up to look for the boarding gate. It was changed which meant going to another part of the air port in another floor. By the time I arrived at the new boarding gate, the boarding had commenced. 

After boarding, I retreated my emotional state while having to arrive at a new boarding gate. My mind did arouse within me suspicion and felt a state anxiety! I am an infrequent air traveller. My comfort was that the boarding time mentioned in the boarding pass was still a few minutes away. It occurred to me that the boarding time was about forty five minutes before the departure time. Therefore I would be on time to board. 

The immediate response to unexpected situation can be fear which leads to an action in a frightful mood!

The squirrel paused a few times to look back to sense how intense was the threat! The Tree pie birds chase away squirrels sometimes. It is the memory of the past that takes over to make us act impulsively. 

I was able to recall several flight journeys when everything went well. The experiences of the booked in baggage not arriving a few times, or a flight having to return due to technical snag which was a fire in an engine, came back to my mind . It is the memory that reactivates fear!

What helped me was recollection of many happy events in the air pot. On one occasion two years ago, I left the lap top behind while collecting all other items. A security personnel traced me while waiting to board and handed over to me the lap top. 

The recollection of some other pleasant experiences returned to my mind! It was then I raised that there is a traction towards recollecting negative experiences when something untoward takes place. The exercise of recalling many happy memories during air travel brought  comforting ambience. 

Often fear can be disproportionate to the reality of the moment. It is the memories of past stress that clouds the present and compounds to create  fearful  thoughts. 

Turning our mind to a healthier orientation, to live in the consciousness of the abundance of pleasant experiences, is part  of self regulation proposed by Daniel Golman, to develop the skills of Emotional Intelligence.

The ambience of peace within is what we need even in stressful situations! That is what would make stress transient and less intense!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)